Sabretache articles from December 2005

Sabretache archives from December 2005

Editorial.(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... The acting Premier of New South Wales, William Bede Dalley, was in the Galong area on 15 February 1885 when news reached him that the British government had accepted the New South Wales offer to send a contingent of troops to Sudan. Dalley and...

2006 MHSA Conference: Adelaide, South Australia easter weekend, 15-17 April 2006.
December 1, 2005... REGISTRATION OF INTEREST (Speakers/Presentations) The South Australian Branch will be hosting the Military Historical Society of Australia's Biennial Conference for 2006. The Branch is keen to present a function that covers a broad...

The secret war 1914-1918 part two--naval encounters.
December 1, 2005... Historically, naval warfare as waged by England, later the United Kingdom, impinged greatly upon economic warfare and international diplomacy. The British naval blockade, and Russia's refusal to implement Napoleon's retaliatory Continental...

The infantryman's navigation aid.(Brief article)
December 1, 2005... The Sydney water-colourist, Sophia Campbell, in her painting of the Sydney George Street Barracks, c1817/18, depicted one of the squads on the parade ground being drilled in marching by an NCO who is measuring the step with a pace stick. It has...

Dear everybody at home: a Tasmanian's letters from the great war.
December 1, 2005... France 2-9-16 Dear Everybody at Home, If you receive this I will by then have passed to the Great Beyond. We are just preparing to go in on a fairly large stunt which may be the end of a good many of us and I may be one of the number....

The missing man the Sapper who never was.
December 1, 2005... Brigadier Lawrence Fitzgerald OBE in his work on the activities of the Australian Survey Corps in WWII, Lebanon to Labuan, identified the five members of 1 Aust Corps who formed the Survey Directorate on Corps HQ and accompanied the HQ to...

"Leave without pay" the story of the AWA telegraphists in the Second World War.
December 1, 2005... At the end of 1941, with the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, one of the pressing needs for the Australian forces was long distance communications, especially in the Far North. Prior to the war, wireless telegraphy support at Port Darwin,...

Captain Umrao Singh VC last Indian Victoria Cross recipient.
December 1, 2005... Subedar Major and honorary Captain Umrao Singh, the last surviving Indian Victoria Cross recipient died at the Army Research and Referral hospital in New Delhi on 21 November 2005 after a prolonged illness. Singh, 85, of Jhajjar in Rohtak,...

Geographical and technical intelligence in the Southwest Pacific 1942-1945.
December 1, 2005... When General Douglas MacArthur took command of the Southwest Pacific Area in mid-April 1942, he faced considerable obstacles. Apart from an apparently insurmountable lack of men and materiel, there was a paucity of useable intelligence....

MHSA website.(Military Historical Society of Australia )(Brief article)
December 1, 2005... Mark Moncrieff (Victorian Branch) and Peter Shaw (WA Branch) are currently developing the Society's website. It is well on the way to completion and Mark and Peter hope to have a well-defined prototype available for comment in the near future....

Some notes on the capture and trial of John Amery.
December 1, 2005... The autobiography of Commander Leonard Burr, CVO CBE of Scotland Yard's Special Branch casts another interesting light on the career of John Amery as written about in Rohan Goyne's article "British Free Corps (BFC): Traitors to the King". (1)...

Neville Foldi.(The Military Historical Society of Australia)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 1, 2005... Federal Council of the Military Historical Society of Australia extends their deepest sympathy to the family of the late Neville Foldi, a founding member of the ACT Branch in 1963. Federal President 1978-1982, then Federal Treasurer for 20...

In search of Tiggi.
December 1, 2005... It was 3 am and I stared without much comprehension at the net six inches above my nose. Outside of the tent fly, the rain pelted down and inside, the mosquitoes whined away. I scratched and rubbed at the grille festering in my crutch, fingered...

Beyond the assault rifle.
December 1, 2005... To the generation which grew up in the aftermath of world war two, in the shadow of a nuclear holocaust, guns were a tool, used by all classes for recreational shooting. Skill-at-arms was fostered officially with young men by the school cadets...

Around the Water Cart.
December 1, 2005... Ever wondered how "Shaggy Ridge" got its name? The commander of A Company 2/27th Battalion, Lt Bob Clampett had acquired the nickname of "Shaggy". As Clampett, in October 1943, led his company onto a previously unnamed spur of great strategic...

Recruitment/promotion strategy for the MHSA.
December 1, 2005... Federal Council has recently committed to developing a recruitment/promotion strategy for the Society. The Federal Secretary will compile a draft plan which will be based on input from the Membership and it will be discussed by Federal Council...

Carolyn Newman. Legacies of our fathers.(New Releases)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Carolyn Newman. Legacies of our fathers, Lothian Books, ISBN 0 7344 0877 3, October 2005, $29.95 During September, October and early November 1945, thousands of newly liberated prisoners returned home to begin their post-war lives. Some of...

Australian Heritage.(Periodical review)(Brief article)
December 1, 2005... Australian Heritage, four Issues per year, Reply Paid 84, Australian Heritage Magazine, PO Box 84, Hampton Vic 3188, Freecall 1800 201 983, subscription $28 one year, $52 two years. The first edition of Australian Heritage magazine is now...

Julie Summers. The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the bridge on the River Kwai.(New Releases)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Julie Summers. The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the bridge on the River Kwai, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0743263510, paperback, October 2005, $29.95 In the Hellfire Pass Museum near Nam Tok in Thailand, there are two men named for...

John O'Connor. Australian Airborne, The history and insignia of Australian military parachuting.(New Releases)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... John O'Connor. Australian Airborne, The history and insignia of Australian military parachuting, A4, hardcover, 440 pages features many hundreds of colour and black & white photos of personnel, special events, badges, certificates, medals, pins...

The Fragile Forts: The Fixed Defences of Sydney Harbour 1788-1963.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... The Fragile Forts: The Fixed Defences of Sydney Harbour 1788-1963, by Peter Oppenheim, Australian Military History Publications, Loft-us, NSW, 2005, 180 x 250 mm (landscape), pp. xxvi/326, hardcover, 35 b&w drawings, 26 b&w photographs, 6 maps,...

Hew Strachan. The First World War: A New Illustrated History.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Hew Strachan. The First World War: A New Illustrated History, London, Simon and Schuster, 2003, xviii+350 pp, photographs, maps, index, $50.00. Hew Strachan, Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford, has been involved in a number...

Jim Haynes. Cobbers--Stories of Gallipoli 1915.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Jim Haynes. Cobbers--Stories of Gallipoli 1915, ABC Books, 373 pp, pbk, $29.95 Haynes. This is the folksy view of Gallipoli--the place where all men (on our side) were straight and true, where all the mistakes by the top brass were...

Dave Sabben. Through enemy eyes.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Dave Sabben. Through enemy eyes, Allen & Unwin, NSW; ISBN 1 74114 561 9. card cover, 380 pp., nine maps, ten diagrams and a glossary, $29.95. Through enemy eyes is a Vietnam War story about the Battle of Long Tan told from the point of...

Brian Labudda and Ian D Skennerton. Accurising and Shooting Lee Enfields.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Brian Labudda and Ian D Skennerton. Accurising and Shooting Lee Enfields. Ian Skennerton Publishing, PO Box 80, Labrador Qld 4215, (07) 5594 7911, www.skennerton.com, 2005, ISBN 0-949749-81-8, paperback, 35 pp, 90 illustrations, many in full...

Robert Goetz. 1805 Austerlitz: Napoleon and the destruction of the Third Coalition.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Robert Goetz. 1805 Austerlitz: Napoleon and the destruction of the Third Coalition, Greenhill Books, London (www.greenhillbooks.com) and Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania, 2005. ISBN 1-85367-644-6, hardcover with dust jacket, 368 pp, 40 b & w...

Digby Smith. The decline and fall of Napoleon's Empire, 1804-1815: How the Emperor self-destructed.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Digby Smith. The decline and fall of Napoleon's Empire, 1804-1815: How the Emperor self-destructed, Greenhill Books, London (www.greenhillbooks.com) and Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania, 2005. ISBN 1-85367-609-8, hardcover with dust jacket, 239...

Ron Lock and Peter Quantrill. Zulu Vanquished: The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Ron Lock and Peter Quantrill. Zulu Vanquished: The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, Greenhill Books, London (www.greenhillbooks.com), 2005, ISBN 1-85367-660-8. hardcover with dust jacket, 304 pp, 11 maps, 77 photos (including 14 in colour), 16...

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Snook. How can man die better: The Secrets of Isandlwana revealed.(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Lieutenant Colonel Mike Snook. How can man die better: The Secrets of Isandlwana revealed, Greenhill Books, London (www.greenhillbooks.com), 2005, ISBN 1-85367-656-X. hardcover with dust jacket, 320 pp, 87 b & w photos and 8 maps, 16 x 24 cm,...

Ian D Skennerton. .577 Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket & Snider-Enfields: Parts identification lists, Patt. '53 & Snider notes, exploded parts drawings, armourers instructions, accessories and fittings.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Ian D Skennerton. .577 Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket & Snider-Enfields: Parts identification lists, Part. '53 & Snider notes, exploded parts drawings, armourers instructions, accessories and fittings, Ian Skennerton Publishing, PO Box 80, Labrador...

Major General Tony Jeapes. SAS Secret War: Operation Storm in the Middle Fast.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2005... Major General Tony Jeapes. SAS Secret War: Operation Storm in the Middle Fast, Greenhill Books, London (www.greenhillbooks.com) and Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania, 2005, ISBN 185367-567-9, paperback, 253 pp, 22 b & w photos and maps, 16 x 23 cm....